IMPERIAL SHIELD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 123, 27 May 1930, Page 9

IMPERIAL SHIELD.

■ ■ SHOOTING BY CADETS. HIGH AUCKLAND SCORES. New Zealand has gained 10 out of the first 100 places in the Empire in this year's Imperial Challenge Shield competition for miniature rifle shooting. All of the ten units to gain this distinction are from Auckland city.

The Auckland Grammar School Cadets were awarded the trophy presented by Lord Jellicoe for the most successful New Zealand unit in the competition, with a score of 93.975 out of 100. The other units which gained places in the first 100 of the Empire were: St. Stephen's College (90.796 points), 29th Ponsonby Company (89.108), Takapuna Grammar School\ (89.068), 25th Mount Eden Company (85.45), 32nd Newmarket Company (80.847), 36th Takapuna Company (80.69), 35th Devonport Company (50.475), 24th Mount Eden Company (78.05), 28th Ponsonby Company (77.95). The object of the competition, which was founded through the generosity of Colonel R. W. Ffennell, formerly of South Africa, is to encourage every boy of British birth between the ages of 12 and 19 to learn.how to use a rifle. The number of boys who competed this year was as follows: Great Britain, 6350; Canada, 5752; Australia, 2370; New Zealand, 13,147; South Africa, 11,929; India and Rhodesia, 963. For the first time in the history of the competition New Zealand provided the largest number of competitors in the Empire. The number of teams competing was 1782. /

Another Auckland success was the winning of the "Weekly Press" Challenge Shield by the Takapuna Grammar School. Two shields were presented, one to each island, to encourage rifle shooting among cadets. The Takapuna Grammar School's score of SG.3 per cent is the highest ever made in the competition. Last year the shield was also won by an Auckland unit, the 30th Kingsland Senior Cadets. With these latest successes, and the recent winning of the Campbell Statuette competition for general efficiency by the A Company of the sth Cadet Battalion, Auckland Regiment, Devonport, cadet units in Auckland are now in possession of almost all the principal cadet trophies of the Dominion.